Asante

It didn’t take long after her admission into the obstetrics ward for the doctors to determine what was wrong. With the patient having a blood pressure of 240/210 and seizing, she was diagnosed with ecclampsia.

They called an emergency C-section to save the lives of the mother and her baby, but it was too late for the unborn child. They wrapped the baby in a cloth covering its face and set it aside, waiting for the mother to awake from her surgery.  

But even when the mother awoke, she was too sick to do anything. During her seizure, she had ruthlessly bit her tongue, leaving it gigantically swollen, inflamed, bloody, and protruding from her mouth. For several days after her surgery, she was pretty much out of it, unable to respond or talk. We continued to treat her high blood pressure and severely injured tongue.

We knew it would take a miracle, but we didn’t give up hope. We cared for her and prayed for her day after day. Then finally one day, we actually prayed with her.

“Is that our patient who had ecclampsia?” I asked when I spotted an unfamiliar woman sitting up on her bed in the OB ward. “Yes!” my friend responded, “Can you believe it?” I hardly recognized her without her swollen face, squinted eyes, and swollen tongue. She was sitting up, looking around like she was ready to go home.

A group of us gathered around her bed with her and a family member, stood in a circle, and clasped hands. We prayed to the One and Only Almighty God, thanking Him for miraculously saving a life and asking Him to comfort her as she deals with the loss of her baby.

After the “Amen,” I heard her whisper, “Asante”. Thank you. The seizing woman with a grossly swollen tongue who hadn’t said anything in days, spoke. “Thank you,” she said. It truly was a miracle.

I don’t know whether she was thanking us or Jesus, but we directed the “thank yous” to whom they were due – to the God who makes miracles still happen.

Before she went home, Allison and Meghan wrote her a letter. A nurse translated it so that they could hand it to her in her own language. In it she will read words of encouragement and Scriptures about the love of the Lord.

I pray that she will know without a doubt that God saved her life. She now has a powerful story to tell. Jesus told one man that he healed, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” (Luke 8:39) May she, too, include in her story a testimony of God’s rescue and healing power. When I continue to tell her story, I know that I will.